Stratosphere
by IlluminationImpact
Summary: Fleur is an angel, and she has found the heaven in life. Fanfiction for Whirlwind, rated T because it's better to be safe than sorry. This has been completed. I hope you guys enjoy it.
1. Chapter 1

****Stratosphere

_By Illumination_

If you recognize her name that's understandable: The short story _Fleur_ had its own time of fame in the land of Dragons Peak, and when the Nesters (the dragons chosen to be responsible for the care and hatching of orphaned eggs) witnessed the birth of the powder-blue Pegasus-dragon hybrid, there seemed no other name suitable. The shimmer of faint, aurora light on her blue and white feathers and the depth of curious blue in her vast eyes proved to resemble the very essence of the fictional enchantress from the popular short story.

Fleur's mother had died, two months before her daughter even hatched, in one of the wars with Kaos's dark skylanders, and Fleur's father had left her mother six months earlier. However, Fleur's life hadn't been especially affected by this, considering that orphaned dragon eggs were an unfortunate frequency in Skylands, and a considerable portion of them end up in Dragons Peak with the Nesters to be cared for. After she was hatched, Fleur was, as all orphaned dragons are, assigned to a guardian. Her first guardian was Ramses himself, but then his brother Vathek took over the throne and a young dragon named Flavius had to take over caring for her. Flavius is what most would politely describe as "simple", and other dragons tend to avoid him. True, he can be obnoxious and maybe even over-bearing, but he has a big heart, and orphaned skylanders would agree that he's one of the best guardians to have. When Fleur was put into his care, he was also, at the time, caring for a young orphaned phoenix named Solstice. Solstice couldn't fly, and, despite Fleur being younger than her, Solstice always looked up to Fleur and held her advanced flying abilities in admiration. Fleur and Solstice developed a close, sisterly bond, growing up together as Vathek came to power.

Fleur could always tell that Flavius favored Solstice over her, but she never minded much; she always preferred working alone, so as Flavius paid particular attention to Solstice and helped her further her skills to make up for her lack of flying abilities, Fleur trained herself diligently. She spent day and night perfecting her tempest clouds and her rainbow shot techniques, and by the time she was six months of age Fleur's skill was comparable to that of the other dragons.

However, make no mistake, Fleur and Flavius had shared some kind of bond, and when it came time to make a stand against Vathek, Fleur was one of the first choices in the resistance.

After Dragons Peak was free and back under stable monarchy, Ramses resumed his duties as Fleur's guardian. It was the least he could do, he had told her, for fighting so valiantly in the resistance. Fleur still kept closeness with Solstice and Flavius after that, but when she became Ramses official apprentice, it was clear she was different. The other dragons treated her as though she were something immensely special, and Fleur started to feel a distance between her and her peers begin to develop, and before she could do anything she was entirely separate from the others.


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own s the game skylanders or any of the characters. I only own this story and that's it. I know no one likes the giants game but this chapter has a reference to it. I don't actually include giant skylanders though and I will explain the reference to the game. **

Stratosphere

_By Illumination_

II

Reporting to Ramses was a redundant task that Fleur never looked forward to. It consisted of her, standing like a fool before the king's throne and reciting to him her training regimen and how she keeps to it. The old dragon just smiles and nods down at his apprentice and from the looks of the exchange it would seem he wasn't even listening, however his responses proved the opposite:

"Is there anything new or significant that you would choose to begin with?"

"No sir."

"Alright, how do you fair in your studies?"

"I do alright, sir."

"What about your physical training?"

"I do well, sir."

"I see. Have you any recent injuries?"

"I had an open wound on the left wing last month, sir."

"How is it now?"

"It's fine sir."

"Good. And you keep time with all of your schedules?"

"Yes sir."

"There is a new obstacle course in the east section. Have you –"

"Yes sir, I've completed it."

"Fleur, you do not have to continue to call me 'sir'. This isn't formal."

"…Yes sir."

Fleur never held anything against Ramses, and when she gave him this cold attitude she always felt a secret pang of guilt, but during these reports there were often other dragons around.

Fleur could feel the pressure of their glances regarding her as "That special one, she's Ramses apprentice.", and desperately she tried to show to them that she didn't share any more particular closeness with their king than any of them. She just wanted to be normal.

Solstice rushed to Fleur and hugged her tight, tiny sobs lifting and dropping her shoulders. Fleur hugged her sister back and told her not to worry, she wouldn't be gone long.

"But w-what'll I do without you?" Solstice said into her sister's flank, her voice still shaken with tears.

Fleur smiled. "You've got Flavius, haven't you?" And she looked up to her old guardian, who himself was fighting tears.

"You're strong, Fleur. I-I'm sure you get through anything." Flavius said, and he smiled at her as Solstice withdrew from her embrace.

An airship carrying skylanders had come to Dragons Peak. They were here looking for more talented skylanders to accompany them on their journey, and they had caught Fleur right in the middle of her training.

"Wow kid, you've got some skills." The voice had caught Fleur by surprise and she turned to see two strangers standing a wing-length ahead of her. "My name's Cali." She said, and she gestured to the taller one standing next to her. "And this is Flynn."

"Glad to meet ya'." Said Flynn, and he advance toward Fleur and extended his arm. "We've traveled to here to Dragons Peak because we're looking for talented skylanders, such as yourself, to come with us on our journey. You'd be a great help, so whaddya' say, kid?"

Fleur had never been outside of Dragons Peak, and she didn't even know if she could trust these two, but at that moment those things were far from her mind, and all she could think of was the fact that this was a chance to escape this void of a home in which she was separated. Gratefully, she grasped Flynn's hand and shook it.

Cali smiled. "Happy to have you aboard."

"I am so proud of you, Fleur." Ramses said to her, and she turned to face him. "You've grown so strong and I hope you continue to prosper."

Fleur smiled gratefully, again feeling to guilt of treating Ramses so coldly, and she walked up to her mentor and kissed his forehead.

"Fleur, c'mon! It's time to go!" Flynn's voice sounded from the ship, and Fleur, exchanging a final glace with her home, her sister, her mentor, her friend, she hurried to the ship and into her new life.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own skylanders or any of these characters, but you all know this by now. This contains another reference to skylanders: giants (although there are actually no giant skylanders) but the reference is kind of obscure. If you've played the game and you know what I'm talking about, then good for you :3. This is going to be the last chapter of Stratosphere because Stratosphere was, in all honesty, just a random idea that had no actual structure or direction. Nonetheless, I hope you guys don't hate it. **

Stratosphere

_By Illumination_

III

If there was one thing Fleur truly wanted to say in her letters, it was to explain how her memory of home was slipping. She wanted Flavius to remind her of every beauty that could be found there and to tell her about the things happening now; how Solstice was keeping with her training and how he was fairing as the new king of Dragons Peak.

Flavius had written a letter to Fleur two months ago, informing Fleur of Ramses' passing. He asked her if she would like to come home, but she refused, not wanting to see the place without Ramses being there. It wouldn't be the same, and even though she barely even knew what the "same" even looked like anymore, Fleur knew that if she returned now she wouldn't be able to block out his absence and her very understanding of the word "home" would be shattered completely.

So Fleur only wanted to have Flavius tell her about the home she left behind, because he would only let her know of the good things, like her sister. But Fleur did not actually want to tell Flavius how she had forgotten Dragons Peak almost completely, because then she would be truly abandoning him fully from her life. It was bad enough that she had left her family, off to live without them as though they were not good enough for her. Fleur wasn't even there when Ramses had died, as if his very life had meant nothing to her.

It seemed like Fleur would never be normal to them.

She always had to be "special".

And so Fleur did not tell Flavius that she was forgetting her home, because she wanted them to live in peace without constantly having to keep themselves tagged as her memory. Fleur knew they deserved better, so instead, Fleur let Flavius know what heaven was like.

Fleur told Flavius that you didn't have to die to find heaven; that you simply had to open your eyes and look for it. Fleur told him that she was able to see heaven in the clouds and the rocks and the sunlight reflected off of the leaves of trees. Fleur told Flavius how she had met a ghost that had come from an old abandoned machine, and that she had found heaven in him too. Fleur saw the heaven in his eyes when he gazed upon her in fascination as she laughed and flew next to him and the ice below her reflected aurora light onto her wings.

To find heaven, Fleur didn't have to die. But Fleur would not have found it if she hadn't made the choice to leave. When she made the choice, she didn't truthfully know what she was doing or looking for, and perhaps all she had wanted at that time was a change in her life. But when Fleur took those steps and leapt aboard the skylander's ship, there were two things she had not realized: The first thing was that she would find something beautiful that made her life worth living for; The second thing Fleur had not realized was that she already had something worth living for. Fleur had Flavius, Solstice and Ramses, and though the other's secluded her from their own society, she had a very special few that loved her in despite of what the others thought, and she took them for granted and left them.

Nowadays Fleur wonders if she regrets her decision, and she finds herself wondering for extended periods of time. After days of working it over in her mind, Fleur had finally come to what could be the start of a conclusion: No, she does not regret her decision, but she does wish that she had been able to stay in Dragons Peak a bit longer before leaving; She had wanted to stay so she could have stayed at Ramses side while he was dying; so she could have spent more time with Flavius and Solstice; and maybe even spent more time exploring each and every beautifully subtle detail of Dragons Peak. But most of all, Fleur wished she had spent more time growing up, spent more time playing and being carefree in her childhood world filled with light and colour.

**There it is. Suck it in. Mm-hm.**

** If you actually liked this, you can find my other story, Feigned Simplicity, **Here** (If you really want to follow that just copy and paste the link because I can't post actual links) **** s/8864217/1/Feigned-Simplicity**

** This is actually a fanfic written for Fossil Fighters: Champions (which I also do not own) and whether you're into that game or not, I suggest you give it a read, it's better than this one. BUT BEFORE YOU CLICK THAT LINK let me warn you here and now: THAT STORY IS RATED M AND CONTAINS VIOLENCE AND LANGUAGE NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDEREN. **

** If you're looking for more skylanders fanfics, then might I suggest:**

Blood of the Innocents by Simon's house

s/8864338/1/Blood-of-the-Innocents

Broken Hearts

s/8841913/1/Broken-Hearts

And

The Living Confusion (Warning, this one is also rated M)

s/8661410/1/The-Living-Confusion


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